PRESS RELEASE: Linda Berg Maney at Speeder & Earl's in Burlington

Linda Berg Maney will be exhibiting paintings at Speeder & Earl's on Pine Street in Burlington in an exhibit curated by SEABA, from July 6-August 31.

Artist Statement:
I work in various media (watercolor, acrylic, oil, collage, monoprint) exploring the abstract art form. My techniques are the use of color, shape, movement and texture.

Sometimes, I like windows, moons, hearths and fire for inspirations. Other times, I like to experiment knowing that when I like it, it is done. I enjoy the freedom of abstract art.  I like the way it makes me feel. If the art is open to interpretation by the creator, then it also open to interpretation by the viewer.  This exhibit at Speeder and Earl's features the full range of my work.

I am a mostly self-taught artist, but I have studied at Studio Place Arts, Vermont Studio Canter and Vermont Art Event workshops. I share a studio in Montpelier, Vermont with another artist.

ORGANIZER’S ESSAY: Benefit for Kerry O. Furlani at Ilsley Library in Middlebury

by Alice Eckles

On June 8, at 5:00 PM a silent art auction to benefit stone sculptor Kerry O. Furlani was held at the Ilsley Public Library, Middlebury.  For every work of art, book, or other donated item there was bid sheet I created, with an event slogan and image, a four leaf clover and the words “artists helping artists”.  Generosity served as the only jury process to bring this art together in this venue. All the artwork was donated by artists to help compensate a fellow artist whose work was stolen from her exhibit at the Ilsley Public Library earlier this year. Though foot traffic was low despite much advertisement in advance, a significant amount of money was raised for Furlani by 7:00 pm when the auction closed.

The variety and caliber of art both sold and unsold in the auction was a testament to the quality of generosity in art. I have to think that generosity is a character trait that glows through the work of artists who have it.

Marc Awodey’s Ape in a Cage, an acrylic/mixed media painting on canvas, was one of the larger paintings that sold and it couldn’t have been more different than Robert Gold’s Madison Ave., a similarly sized (I’m remembering about 3-by-4-foot) unframed print on paper that also sold. While both these works featured an interesting use of red, Gold’s print contrasted super saturated bright magenta on tomato red. Awodey used more somber tones of red in keeping with his less bright theme of captivity, bringing bricks to mind. Also the technique of drawing is featured in the Awodey’s Ape in a Cage as if it is the only freedom we the viewer can see, the artist’s freedom to draw, in any situation, and thus bring freedom of mind into the physical world. Gold’s print relies more on direct use of photography, a sort of evidence of the real world that he has colorized and manipulated to express what pleases him most in the preliminary image of his starting photo. Both artists work from photos but in very different ways. Reds, a smaller painting by Caroline Tavelli-Abar also featured red, a luscious abstract brush stroke of it, a warm color for a heart-warming event.

Tina Olsen, whose work is featured at the library all month donated a spontaneously expert watercolor landscape, only about 8-by-11-inches, framed appropriately in a rustic white wooden frame. The piece did not sell and is still available at the library for sale with her other artwork. Frankly I was partial to it for myself but had already bid my limit on some other works I plan to give as presents, and anyway I live in a round yurt with no wall space for art. Olsen brought her guitar to the event and was singing songs of freedom, civil rights songs, and songs by Leonard Cohen. Some of us enjoyed singing along. This theme of freedom also seemed to be rise out of the exhibit. Our actions  and our vision  make us free. Another thing that helps is that the artists who were present spoke of staying in touch … having a soiree in the future. Tina Olsen spoke of the sixties and how grateful she was to come of age in that time.

Pilgrimage Studies, No.15 colored pencils on arches paper with acrylic, by Joan Curtis also sold. Set in a deep box frame it had a color and vibrancy that appeared textured, giving me the impression of an intricate mola. Other artists who generously donated works to the silent art auction: Sarah Wesson, Thea Price-Eckles, Lyna Lou Nordstorm, Mike Mayone, Patty Lebon Herb, Anna C. Fugaro, and Alice Eckles

Photographs by Alice Eckles

PRESS RELEASE: Robert Selby at the SEABA Gallery Hallway in Burlington

Robert Selby will be exhibiting at the SEABA Gallery Hallway at the SEABA offices on Pine Street in Burlington from July 6 until August 31st.

Robert Selby’s bio:
I was born at a very early age and began drawing soon thereafter.  Raised and educated in North Carolina, I moved north after college graduation.  After a period of free-lancing as an illustrator for the Boston Globe and Yankee Magazine, I took a position as a staff artist and illustrator for the Providence Journal that spanned the next twenty years.  My work for the newspaper took me to places as disparate as the homeless shelters of Providence and the twelve-meter yachts of Newport to relief agencies in Guatemala and the U.S. Supreme Court.  I managed to garner illustration awards from the Associated Press, the Society of Illustrators of New York and the Society of Newspaper Design among others, and my paintings are included in collections at the Block Island Historical Society and the John Hay Library of Brown University.

It was during my time as a staff illustrator that I was invited to teach courses at the Rhode Island School of Design, which I pursued for fourteen years.  In 1993, I received a Fulbright grant to conduct research on the history of caricature and graphic humor in Madrid Spain.

I left the Providence Journal for a full-time position at the University of Massachusetts/Dartmouth in 1995.  At the turn of the millennium, however, my wife and I were able to realize a long held dream and relocated to Vermont.  We have since been happily ensconced in a former mill site home by the waterfalls of Waterman Brook in Johnson.

In 2002, I began teaching part-time at Champlain College in Burlington and I am currently teaching there full-time in the Graphic Design and in the Game Art and Animation programs.  I spend my summers painting and sculpting.

REVIEW: Max Van Pelt at the Chelsea Library

by Dian Parker

As I went to check out a book from my local library in Chelsea, my eye was drawn to an art work hanging on the wall over a stack of books. The abstract painting was rich with color; cerulean blue, red oxide, crimson, ochre, and bright orange. The colors were connected by black crossing lines.

The Concurrency Series: Untitled paintings from 2011-2012 by Max Van Pelt are rife with deep color and evocative images. I saw folded paper, hidden staircases, waterfalls, doorways and stringed instruments. The medium used was also intriguing; soft pastel, graphite, liquid cement color, paper, oil paint, tape, pen and walnut ink. Walnut ink has a deep, rich brown color that stands out in paintings. It is made from the green husk surrounding the nut of a walnut. The ink can be obtained in a liquid form or in crystals which are mixed with water. The juice from walnut husks was used extensively throughout history as a dye; it is colorfast, lightfast and virtually no solvent removes it from skin. Note: in the Middle Ages walnut ink was used to stain the hands of criminals in gypsy communities since it remains in the skin for a long time. Quelle terrible malédiction!

The 15 paintings in this solo show at the Chelsea Library are muscular, looking as though they've been worked standing up with focused intention. They feel architectural and the colors vigorous. The artist is a craftsman as well as a painter and I wanted to know more about who he is.

Max Van Pelt is a recent graduate of Dartmouth College, Summa Cum Laude, 2011. He studied studio art with a concentration in Architecture. Currently he is an intern and special instructor at the Dartmouth College Department of Studio Art. This past winter he had his first solo show at the Barrows Exhibition Rotunda at the Hopkins Center for the Arts in Hanover. There he exhibited one of his 2012 sculptures, Responding, made of steel, VT white marble, concrete, graphite, wood, fly fishing mono-filament, ink, nylon webbing, found object and masonry twine. The steel sculpture is intricately welded; a simple, elegant statement in balance and design in spite of it large size, 13 x 13 x 7.5 feet.

At the end of June, Van Pelt will be in a two person show, Perspectives on Design at the Jaffe-Friede Gallery in Hanover. In July he is part of a group outdoor sculpture exhibition at the Cider Hill Gardens and Gallery in Windsor.

Van Pelt's work is compelling. You can feel his exuberance in creating. He is someone to look out for. I think we will be hearing a great deal about this young artist in the future. The Chelsea Library and its art coordinator, Peter Calore, are to be commended for showing a new and upcoming artist that is worthy of a one man show.

Unfortunately the show is only up till June 21 so don't dally too long in your gardens. Flowering jewels can also be found hanging on the walls of our local libraries.


Image: Untitled, 2012. Soft pastel, ink, graphite, highlighter pencil, liquid cement color walnut ink, tape, pen, Reeves BFK paper. 26 x 22.25 inches

This review was first published in the Randolph Herald on 6/14/12 and is used with their permission.

PRESS RELEASE: Eli Simon & Hal Mayforth at Helen Day Art Center in Stowe

In the East Gallery:
Eli Simon & 
Hal Mayforth

Exhibit dates: June 15th - July 29th

Eli Simon produces large lustrous ceramic objects, reminiscent of design and industrial production. These boldly colored sculptures are coupled with Hal Mayforth's humorous, narrative and equally vibrant paintings and watercolors.

Image: Left: Eli Simon Dazzle Ships, Ventilator Right: Hal Mayforth Red Scare

PRESS RELEASE: Vermont Printmakers at Helen Day Art Center in Stowe

Impressed: Vermont Printmakers 2012
Exhibit dates: June 15th - September 9th, 2012 

The Vermont Printmakers exhibition seeks to identify the strongest artists in Vermont working primarily in the print and gather them in the Art Center galleries to examine the mark they are making.  Public Programs and workshops will accompany the exhibition, including a steamroller woodcut workshop with several Vermont Master Printers.

Artists in exhibit: Sarah Amos, Bobbi Angell, Lois Beatty, Bill Davidson, Rachel Gross, Don Hanson, Briony Morrow-Cribbs, Mickey Myers, Lynn Newcomb, Helen O'Donnell. These artists work primarily in print, many of them use contemporary approaches.  From basement studio experimenters, to clusters of artists drawn together around a press and a studio, they are engaged in a great visual dialogue about the capabilities of printmaking with voices that speak with scientific precision, fantastic abstraction, and everything in between.

Present in the exhibition is the influence of place on the artist's work. Many of these artists live part-time elsewhere and their work contrasts the Vermont landscape and their roots in other places. In some cases the landscape is the subject, while for others the relationship is represented abstractly. 

Public Programs:
Thursday, August 9th, 6:00pm - Artist Panel Discussion
Saturday, August 18th, 9:00am - Steamroller Printmaking Workshop

Image:  Left: Bill Davison Mosaic/Portal 5.3.12 detail

PRESS RELEASE: Bennington Museum Welcomes Military Personnel

Bennington Museum is proud to announce its participation with more than 1,500 museums across America to offer free admission to military personnel and their families this summer in collaboration with the National Endowment of the Arts, Blue Star Families, and the Department of Defense.  All active duty military personnel and up to five members of their families receive free admission to the museum through Labor Day, September 3, 2012.  Active duty military include Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, and active duty National Guard and active duty Reserve members. The complete list of participating museums is available at www.arts.gov/bluestarmuseums.





“Through Blue Star Museums, the arts community is extending a special invitation to military families to enjoy over 1,500 museums this summer,” said NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman. “This is both an opportunity to thank military families for their service and sacrifice, as well as a chance to create connections between museums and these families that will continue throughout the year.  Especially for families with limited time together, those on a limited budget, and ones that have to relocate frequently, Blue Star Museums offers an opportunity to enjoy one another and become more fully integrated into a community.”

“As a Blue Star Museum, we are delighted to welcome to the Bennington Museum all active-duty military members and their families as our guests.” said Edie Sawitsky, Acting Director.  “It is our way of thanking them for the sacrifices they make every day.  We hope to see many of them come to the museum and create wonderful memories during the time they have together with their families.”  At a recent weekend drill, the members of the Bravo Troop, 1-172 CAV (MTN), Vermont National Guard led by Capt. Zachariah Fike stopped by the museum to explore the Military Gallery and discuss with Don Miller, Museum Trustee, the battle that took place here.  As they entered the museum they received a round of applause given by the Red Hat Ladies who were also visiting that day.

Blue Star Families is a national, nonprofit network of military families from all ranks and services, including guard and reserve, with a mission to support, connect and empower military families. In addition to morale and empowerment programs, Blue Star Families raises awareness of the challenges and strengths of military family life and works to make military life more sustainable through programs and partnerships like Operation Honor Cards, MilKidz Club and Blue Star Museums. Membership includes military spouses, children and parents as well as service members, veterans and the civilians who strongly support them. To learn more about Blue Star Families, visit www.bluestarfam.org.

Image:  Capt. Zachariah Fike and Bravo Troop, 1-172 CAV (MTN), Vermont National Guard is welcomed to the Bennington Museum by Don Miller, member of the Bennington Museum’s Board of Trustees.

PRESS RELEASE: Photographs of The Backstretch at Vermont Folklife Center in Middlebury

A View From The Backstretch will be at Vermont Folklife Center's Vision and Voice Documentary Gallery from June 8 - September 8th. Open Tuesday - Saturday 10 am - 5pm.

A View from the Backstretch is a collaboration between Obie- and Bessie-award-winning Vermont photographer Dona Ann McAdams and a group of Saratoga Race Course’s backstretch workers, including exercise riders, hot walkers, maintenance personnel, a trainer, and a groom. This exhibit brings together black and white photographs taken by Dona Ann McAdams as well as color photographs created by her backstretch photography students from their own unique perspectives. 

Over the past year, the Vermont Folklife Center has been working with McAdams to deepen the connection between the public and these track workers by further documenting their life stories using the oral interview. In this exhibit, through photography and interview, visitors will experience an intimate look at an occupation unseen by most.

Dona Ann McAdams is an internationally published and exhibited photographer. Her work has been exhibited at, among other places, the Museum of Modern Art, The Whitney Museum of American Art, and The International Center for Photography. She’s the recipient of the Dorothea Lange-Paul Taylor Prize given by the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, and her book of photography Caught in the Act  was published by Aperture.

PRESS RELEASE: Mutual Gaze: Call and Response at Winooski Pop-Up District

MUTUAL GAZE:Call and Response is a curated exhibition by Riki Moss within the 2012 Winooski Pop-Up District. It runs from June 22nd - August 4th, 2012, with a public reception 7 - 9 pm on June 22, and an Artist Talk and reception on Wednesday, July 11th 5 - 7 pm.

Six ecologically curious and concerned artists explore the idea of call and response. If we look deeply into the heart of our planet, we find it’s been looking at us all along. The gaze is mutual. What one takes from this experience - joy, anxiety, guilt, unity, separation, heartbreak, glory; whatever sense one makes of our connection to this marvelous, exuberant earth - it is up to the viewer.

Image: Riki Moss, mixed media, paper sculpture and sound, The Paper Forest

PRESS RELEASE: Jennifer Hubbard at Townsend Gallery at Black Cap Coffee in Stowe

Townsend Gallery at Black Cap Coffee located at 142 Main Street Stowe presents Activating the Character, New Paintings by Jennifer Hubbard from July 1st -31st, 2012. Opening reception Saturday, July 7th 5-8 pm.Contact 802-279-4239 for information.

The artist says, "When I moved to Vermont three years ago, I was struck by how large a role the landscape and the weather play here. I learned to take a more active interest in getting outside, back to nature. It seemed natural to take the photos for my portraits outdoors, too. After painting my friend Vanessa shivering in my backyard last November, I remarked to a writer friend that, for the first time, my portrait subject was being visibly affected by the landscape around her, an interesting shift of power between subject and background. He replied, “In the literary world, we call that ‘activating the character.’”

“I thought that was a terrific way to put it. After all, the extreme weather here dictates our
activities, interests, the clothes we wear. How we respond, and how we express ourselves
individually, is a collaboration borne of necessity. These paintings, then, document not only their subject or the situation, but also of that collaboration with nature that defines life in Vermont."

PRESS RELEASE: Wood, Wire & Whimsy at Gander Gallery in Manchester Center

Wood, Wire & Whimsy, a group show featuring artists Dale Sherman Blodget, Anna Dibble, Fred Faviano and Janet Van Fleet opens Friday July 6, 2012 at Gander Gallery art & objects. An opening reception with the artists will be held at the gallery from 5 pm - 7pm.  Wood, Wire & Whimsy, designed to interest you in their artistic use of materials, both natural and man-made, runs through July 20, 2012.

Fred Faviano, a summer resident of Manchester Center, VT, has been constructing brightly painted sculpture from the flotsam and jetsam of life for over forty years. Cabot, VT artist Janet Van Fleet repurposes wire, buttons and wine foils into imaginative new statements about life and beyond. Anna Dibble, from Landgrove, VT, explores the varied relationships between art, people, dogs and other beasts while providing a comical commentary on the foibles of daily life.  Danby artist Dale Sherman Blodget works to capture fleeting moments that are open to interpretation using a variety of media, including her iPad.

Gander Gallery art & objects is located at 105 Elm Street in the historic depot district of Manchester Center, VT.  Gallery hours are:  Tuesday - Saturday 11:00 am - 5:30 PM, Sunday 12 noon - 4:00 pm & closed on Monday.

Image: Janet Van Fleet, Multicolored Button Dress

PRESS RELEASE: Landscape Artists to Participate in Walkabout & Roundtable Discussion at Chandler Gallery in Randolph

Seven renowned landscape artists will participate in a gallery tour and roundtable discussion at Chandler's Gallery's opening of Red Fields & Yellow Skies: The Art of the Landscape at 4 PM on Saturday June 16.

Artists and Chandler Gallery committee members are enthusiastic about what promises to be an exceptional exhibit. Each of the participating artists will talk about his or her work, individual style, and process during this informal tour. Guests will have the opportunity to ask questions and share reflections. The roundtable discussion and tour are followed by a gala opening reception from 5:30 to 7:30 which is free and open to the public. A cash bar will be offered.

The work of twelve state- and nationally-renowned landscape artists will be featured in this exhibit that runs through Labor Day Sunday, September 2. Chandler Gallery is located at 73 Main Street in Randolph.

PRESS RELEASE: Digital Art at Village Frame Shoppe & Gallery in St. Albans

Village Frame Shoppe & Gallery is currently exhibiting “A Digital Art Show” a collection of artwork by local artists working in a digital environment. The exhibit will be on display June 5 - June 30, 2012, with a reception on June 15 from 6-8 PM. 

Artists were encouraged to be creative and produce digital paintings using their favorite image editing software.  The images were then output to different types of print media including watercolor paper, photo paper or canvas and then prepared for display. 

"I'm excited to see the variety of styles and talent that the digital artists submitted for this exhibit!", said gallery owner, Daniel Pattullo.  Participating artists include Chadwick Anthony Bourgeois, Michael Thomas-Adam, Melvin Harris, John Wolff, Dave Russell, Sandy Fox, Andy Brown, Corliss Blakely, Chepe Cuadra and Karen Day-Vath.

Image: Chadwick Anthony Bourgeois,  2bcome1

PRESS RELEASE: Three New Shows at SPA in Barre

Investigate the sciences through the creative perspectives of 18 artists from our region in a new show, Sc-EYE-nce, on display in the main floor gallery at Studio Place Arts (SPA) in Barre through July 7.  The exhibit pushes viewers to examine the world around them – laboratory science, life science, and natural history - through installations, assemblages, and sculptures, using a variety of traditional and non-traditional media.

Dana Walrath of Underhill created the double helix hanging in the center of the gallery, pictured in the photograph on left, from wood, pods, and seeds.  Behind the Activity Dependent Gene by Walrath is a group of large-scale, Iris prints inspired by life sciences, created by Linda E. Jones of Burlington.

Upstairs, Nicholas Heilig is exhibiting a group of his Live Art drawings in the second floor gallery, which were created during live music performances around Burlington.  His clean graphics, popular culture icons, and political commentary will come to life during a live performance at SPA at the opening reception on June 8.

The third floor gallery at SPA features an impressive, site specific installation by Karolina Kawaika.  Using a detailed topographic map of Barre City and Barre Town, Karolina created a grid using triangles of blue-toned, plexi-glass that represent the sky pulled up and away from the undulating landscape below.  This complex installation is suspended from the ceiling of the third floor of SPA.

Meet the artists at the opening reception for these 3 new shows, which takes place on Friday, June 8, 6-8 PM at Studio Place Arts.  For more information and directions, go to: http://www.studioplacearts.com/

PRESS RELEASE: Marian Willmott at Pine Street Deli in Burlington

Marian Willmott will be showing at Pine Street Deli from June 1 - August 31, 2012

Artist’s Statement by Marian Willmott:

I live in the beauty and solitude of Vermont’s mountains.  I am drawn to trees - their gestures, the crawl of roots, the arching of a branch.  I’m intrigued by an evocative entrance or passage under a rock or into a hole at the base of a trunk.  I love patterns – the spiral of a snail, the symmetry of an unfurling fern, the branching of veins and rivers.  And I’m moved by the energy manifested everywhere – in decay and new growth and in the symphony of insects, birds, wind, leaves, and breath.

My work includes monoprints, oil painting and poetry. My approach is intuitive, exploring what arises during the creative process, often working in the realm of metaphor and dream.  I strive to stay present to the mystery we are a part of and deepen the encounter.

Image: Philosophy

PRESS RELEASE: Art’s Alive Festival of Fine Art Gala Reception and Awards Ceremony at Main Street Landing’s Union Station in Burlington

Juried Exhibition in the Art’s Alive Gallery at Main Street Landing’s Union Station and
Art in the Windows on the Church Street Marketplace, College and Main Streets

Gala Reception & Awards Ceremony
at Art’s Alive Gallery at Main Street Landing’s Union Station on Friday June 15, 5:30-7:30pm. Awards Ceremony at 7:15pm. This Event Is Free and Open to the Public

Art’s Alive is proud to present its Annual Festival of Fine Art! Each year we dedicate the month of June to the exposition of Vermont’s Visual Artists. A Juried Exhibition is presented in the Art’s Alive Gallery at Main Street Landing’s Union Station. Juried Artists compete for several prizes including Best in Show, 2nd and 3rd Runners Up, the Roberto J. Fitzgerald Award, and the Moulton/Steele Award which is presented each year to an emerging artist! Art in the Windows transforms Downtown Burlington into an open air walking gallery! Every year we partner with several businesses on and around the Church Street Marketplace who generously provide space in their windows to display artwork by selected artists from the Juried Exhibition.

Image: Matthew Douglas, Moo

PRESS RELEASE: Landscape Artists at Chandler Gallery in Randolph

Glowing skies, streaks of orange fields, soaring mountaintops, silver waters, magenta forests, these are just a few of the images that will be on view this summer at Chandler Gallery in Randolph, Vermont. Twelve state- and nationally-renowned artists bring their landscapes to the gallery for the landscape exhibition Red Fields & Yellow Skies, The Art of the Landscape. A gala opening Saturday June 16 opens with an artists’ roundtable discussion at 4 pm, followed by a reception from 5:30 – 7:30 pm. The exhibit runs through Labor Day Sunday September 2.

 This landscape exhibition is a feast for the eyes and the soul. Jan Fowler, Chandler Gallery Committee member and the exhibit’s curator, had two goals in assembling this group of artwork. An admirer of these artists for many years, she was excited to bring their work together in one exhibit and to introduce Central Vermont to well-known, gallery-represented artists whose work may not be readily available in the region.

The artists include Bonnie Acker, David Smith, Mariella Bisson, Cameron Schmitz, Gabriel Boray, Aline Ordman, Matt Brown, Craig Mooney, Steve Goodman, Petria Mitchell, Kathleen Kolb, and Dorothy Martinez.

PRESS RELEASE: Andrew Orr at Bryan Memorial Gallery in Jeffersonville

Andrew Orr: Painter and Teacher

Bryan Memorial Gallery, Middle Room
Now - July 8, 2012

Poultney, VT artist Andrew Orr is featured in Bryan Memorial Gallery's Middle Room this spring through July 8.  With 24 meticulous paintings of Vermont scenes through spring, summer and fall plus abundant still life paintings, Orr's exhibit evokes the serenity of each season.   

Orr is one of five artists featured in Bryan Memorial Gallery's Middle Room this year, as The Bryan pays tribute to a selection of its artist members.  Orr originally came to exhibit his work at Bryan Memorial Gallery through INSPIRED BY NATURE, an exhibit in honor of the Vermont Nature Conservancy's 50th anniversary in 2010.  He has been exhibiting at the Jeffersonville gallery subsequently.

Andrew Orr is a widely exhibited landscape painter and has enjoyed participation with shows and events at galleries in the New England and Northeast region.  His work was twice selected to receive the Arthur T. Hill Memorial Award for  landscape from the Salmagundi Club in New York.  He is the winner of the Claude Parsons Memorial Award for a landscape from the National Exhibition of the American Artists Professional League, and has received an honorable mention in the Land and Light and Water and Air 2011 Exhibition at Bryan Memorial Gallery.

Images: Late Summer Treasures, Gentle Morning on the Lamoille

PRESS RELEASE: Iain and Jim Wallace at K Mueller Studio & Gallery in Montpelier

Father & Son
Closing of show Explorations,  travel photos by Iain Wallace (right), and a retrospective exhibition of photos by the late Jim Wallace (left)

Reception during Art Walk in Montpelier
Friday, June 8, 2012, 4–8 pm

K Mueller Studio & Gallery
15 State Street, room 301
Montpelier, Vermont

PRESS RELEASE: Mark Barry at Vermont Arts Exchange's Mill Gallery in North Bennington

Baltimore and North Bennington painter Mark Barry brings his vibrant paintings to Vermont Arts Exchange's Mill Gallery in a new exhibition, Mark Barry: The Return of the Prodigal Son and Other Tales. The show opens with a reception at VAE on Thursday, June 14, 5-8 pm, and is on view through August 13, 2012.

The show features oil paintings of varying sizes, as well as prints. Among Barry's many themes are jazz musicians at play (inspired and enlivened by the jazz he listens to as he paints) and jubilant family gatherings at the artist's home. VAE Director Matthew Perry says, "His work is wonderfully accessible in terms of subject. He celebrates life from its grand to its littlest moments, all with astounding color and movement."

Barry's most recent work includes images of the everyday and playtime in Maryland and Vermont, both of which he calls home.

"I paint the seemingly ordinary moments of life, that aren't ordinary at all," says Barry. Whether it's biking, playing croquet, skiing or swinging on a swing, the artist portrays an honest snapshot—rich with color and movement. More intimate images give a window into his home life, drawing inspiration from everyday observations and depicting wife and daughter (Sandra and Hannah, respectively) preparing meals, playing board games, repairing household items, celebrating, and relaxing. The family's two dogs (Olive and Matilda) are also shown begging for treats, playing fetch, and riding in the car.

"Barry's greatest gift is the happiness with which he endows his images," praised the late John Dorsey, longtime Baltimore Sun art critic. "This is not a mindless, silly happiness, but springs from a deep appreciation of life. Whatever Barry's people do—cook soft crabs, play with the dog, read quietly, have a night out, kiss one another, take a bath—Barry has them do it with a loving sense of the gift of time."

Image: Mark Barry, The Return of the Prodigal One, oil on canvas, 42" x 36"

PRESS RELEASE: The Art of Travel at Korongo Gallery in Randolph

The Art of Travel
Photographs by Wink Willett
Paintings by Bonny Willett
Sketchbooks by Susan Abbott
And a variety of artifacts from around the world, collected by local globetrotters
June 8—July 20, 2011
Vernissage / reception: Friday, June 8, from 5 to 7 p.m.

“Travel gives me the opportunity to see people in their daily lives and to interact with them in their own environment,” says photographer Wink Willett. “I’m drawn to remote places, as seeing life at an elementary level gives me a better understanding of the culture. When I travel, I see many differences from the world I live in—yet I have learned there are even more similarities. My experiences have confirmed that people around the world share the same core values.” Wink retired from Citibank in 2001 as a Managing Director. Since then he has pursued his passion for photography and used his business experience to help small organizations develop.

“I learn a lot from the people I meet in my travels,” says painter and sculptor Bonny Willett. “Painting them helps me internalize the feelings I have for them and their culture. While painting I may also incorporate the feelings I sense in them.” Bonny has lived in Asia and Europe and has shown her work in Taiwan, Korea, Denmark, and such remote places as Connecticut and Vermont.
       

Images: Bhutan Woman with Prayer Wheel and Beads, Photograph by Wink Willett; Morocco, watercolor on paper, Bonny Willett

CALL TO ARTISTS: "Among Trees" at the Darkroom Gallery in Essex

Among Trees
Deadline: July 5th, 2012 at midnight
Juror: Beth Moon

We live among trees - depend on them - harvest them - eat from them - worship them - love them. To some people trees are home, to others -- simply a resource. For this exhibit we want to examine the lives of trees and their intersection with our lives.

Trees transcend time as we experience it.  How many of us as children have planted a tree, watched it grow and then left it behind to a new generation? Trees stand as witnesses to generations past, present and future. Trees are part of the ecological web of life on earth and whether we know it or not we all depend on them.

Show us what trees mean to you. Objects of beauty, reverence, necessity? Symbols of strength and stoicism?  Monuments to the past?  Victims of man's consumption?  We want to see how you envision life Among Trees.

For this exhibit Juror's Choice receives a 30x48" vinyl exhibit banner featuring their image and a signed copy of Douglas Beasley's Earth Meets Spirit: A Journey Through the Sacred Landscape.

For Juror Beth Moon, time, memory and nature are the central motifs that underlie the photographic imagery of American photographer Beth Moon. Whether she is recording the majestic, sentinel-like Baobab trees for the Portraits of Time series; capturing the strange balance between childhood innocence and the darker wisdom of nature in the project, Thy Kingdom Come;  rendering menacing carnivorous plants in the Savage Garden portfolio, or constructing fanciful, dreamscapes in the Seen But Not Heard portfolio;  Moon reveals a magical and intuitive appreciation for the ways in which time, memory and nature define our understanding of man's place in the universe.

Images:signed book by Douglas Beasley, image by Beth Moon

PRESS RELEASE: Silent auction fundraiser for Kerry O. Furlani at The Ilsley Library in Middlebury

Silent Auction Fundraiser
Bid on artwork by local artists
Something for everyone
Opening bids starting as low as $1.00!

June 8, 5-7 pm at The Ilsley Library, Middlebury During the Arts Walk

Fundraiser to raise money to help compensate artist Kerry O. Furlani for art work that was stolen from the Ilsley Library.

Thanks to the many artists and local businesses that have donated art, products, or services for this event including:

Local Businesses: American Flatbread, Middlebury Natural Foods Co-op, Middlebury Studio School, Town Hall Theatre, Vermont Book Shop

Artists & Writers: Marc Awodey, Alice Eckles, Ross Conrad, Joan Curtis, Karen Dawson, Robert Gold, Anna C. Fugaro, Patty Herb, Mike Mayone, Lyna Lou Nordstrom, Tina Olsen, Prem Prekash, Thea Price-Eckles, Caroline Tavelli-Abar, Sarah Wesson

Image: The Pollinator, 2 1/2 ' x 3 1/2' Mixed Media painting by Anna C. Fugaro, Minimum bid $650

Kate Donnelly Video of Her Performance Piece

Kate Donnelly has created a video of her performance that we reported about in February,
Also There: A Performance for the Commuter.  She has now produced a video entitled Also There that will be screened at an exhibit in Brooklyn at NURTUREart Gallery from June 9-29, but you scan see it right here:

PRESS RELEASE: Tamara Wight at OMaddi's Deli and Café in Northfield

An exhibit entitled Sticks and Stones, sculptural basketry by Tamara Wight, will be on display at OMaddi's Deli and Café, 7 S Main St, Northfield throughout the month of June. 

Tamara has lived in central Vermont and has woven baskets for thirty years. She incorporates wood, stone and other natural findings into her work and creates organic shapes that compliment the natural piece.  This is the challenge and joy of her work.   For this exhibit she has created weavings to be hung on the wall.   The focus of each piece is the wood or the stone that has influenced the work. She currently shares studio space with four other artists in the Historic Gray Building in Northfield.  For information call 485-4700.